It turned out they did not need the 300 tonnes of ice brought in for Bindi’s 10th birthday bash at Australia Zoo yesterday, with temperatures dropping to a chilly 12c amid plenty of rain.

But that did not stop hundreds of families from donning their waterproof ponchos, gloves, beanies and scarves to play in the “snow” or have a slide on a toboggan.

The birthday girl was the main attraction, making an appearance in the Crocoseum with her mum Terri and brother Robert to blow out the 10 candles on her birthday cake.

Bindi used the opportunity to spread the Zoo’s conservation message. “The one thing I want for my birthday is for them not to mine my dad’s reserve”, she said, referring to an application by Cape Alumina company to mine 50 million tonnes of bauxite from the Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on the Cape York Peninsula.

By Damian Bathersby

Anyone who’s ever had teenagers will sympathise with the big cat supervisors at Australia Zoo.

They’ve got three young Bengal tigers on their hands and while they may have officially turned one on Friday, they have all the behavioural attributes of any teenage human.

“They’re not adults and not really cubs ... to us they are like naughty teenagers,” big cat section supervisor Giles Clark said.

“They know the rules and boundaries but push them anyway to see if they can get away with it.
“It’s a crucial age for them because they are learning their limitations – how far they can push each other, how far they can push their handlers and how far they can push the adult tigers.”

Sound familiar?

The big difference between them and most one-year-olds is that Charlie, Mika and Sunita weigh in at about 90kg.

It’s not surprising, considering they each eat more than 3kg of raw meat a day.
“They pack away as much as the adult tigers as they are still growing at a phenomenal rate and are much more active than the adult tigers,” Giles said.

And while the trio might look and act like over-sized kittens, their handlers can never afford to think of them that way.

“They are incredibly big and incredibly powerful and ultimately they are still wild animals.
“They are nothing like Tiddles at home and we have to treat them with the utmost respect.
“They weigh more than some of their handlers; are very powerful and have very big teeth and claws ... I would never compare them to a family pet cat.”

But every youngster loves a birthday and the trio celebrated on Friday with “cakes” made of meat, blood and jelly.

They also enjoyed generous squirts of their favourite treat – canned whipped cream.

By Glenis Green

Belted by a car and hauled 12km, but this lucky koala dodges death

He’s got to be the luckiest koala in Queensland- not only surviving a hit by a car travelling at 100km/h, but also a harrowing, fur-raising 12km ride with his head stuck in the vehicle’s front grille.

So it’s no wonder the staff at the Australian Wildlife Hospital at Australia Zoo on the Sunshine Coast have dubbed the 8-year-old marsupial Ely "Lucky" Grills, after the late Australian television actor with the same name.

Astonishingly, little Lucky suffered no serious injuries in the unusual car versus koala clash.

This was even though initial rescuers who saw him stuck to the car and alerted the unsuspecting driver believed he had been decapitated.

It turned out the koala's body was dangling from the front of the car, but his head and left arm had been forced through the grille with the force of 100km/h impact.

Zoo staff yesterday said the accident had happened on Dayboro Rd near the Petrie Quarry on twilight last week.
The driver was unaware of her unusual hitchhiker until she stopped 12km away at Petrie Railway Station.

An urgent call was made to the Caboolture Koala Care and Rescue group, with member Rhonda Hay undertaking the delicate job using scissors as the "jaws of life" to cut around the car's grille mesh to release the animal.

Lucky was able to sit up and eat after two hours in the hospital's intensive care unit.

Hospital manager Gail Gipp said the koala's story underlined the need for drivers to always be alert for wildlife on roads and to be prepared to stop and seek help in the case of an accident.

"Koalas are more likely to be on the move over the  next few weeks coinciding with the onset of the koala breeding season," she said.

"We ask drivers to exercise particular caution when travelling in koala habitat areas."

Ms Gipp said that because koalas were bumper-bar height, they were vulnerable to suffering severe injuries from even the slightest car hit, highlighting how fortunate Lucky was to survive unscathed.

In keeping with his new name, the hospital's veterinary team discovered Lucky was also suffering an underlying chlamydial infection, for which he is now receiving treatment. He should be released back into the wild in 45 days.

Ms Gipp said nearly a quarter of the hospital's 5000-plus admissions last year were animals that had been hit by cars.

By Glenis Green

By Sam Benger

It’s a tough gig being a kids’ TV host. You have to watch cartoons, go to fun places, meet interesting people and have hundreds of adoring ankle-biter fans following your every move. But the crew from Saturday Disney have managed to take it all in their stride this week as they film on location at Australia Zoo.

Presenters Jack Yabsley, Sally Scanton and Shae Brewster put on a brave face when they met Bengal Tigers, American Alligators and Asia Elephants.

And the bubbly trio, who have also travelled to Disneyland and New Zealand for the show, will continue to shoot segments for the show, to be screened on Channel 7 on July 5, this week, with more up close and personal encounters with some of the zoo’s inhabitants.

“It’s awesome that we get to hang out and play with animals at work," Sally said.

“But it can get a bit full on, like the time I had to have a spider crawl up my arm, or the time we went to a reptile park in NSW and I had to walk round a pond with 40 alligators in it.”

By Glenis Green

Irwin scientists find rare springs on proposed mine site

Terri Irwin has vowed to “fight to the end” to stop mining in the Cape York wilderness area dedicated last year to her late wildlife warrior husband Steve Irwin.

The Australia Zoo director said yesterday there could be no compromise which would allow mining within the 135,000ha Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve because even the removal of a small section of bauxite would affect the site’s delicate ecology.

Instead Ms Irwin said she was drawing up a world-class management plan for the reserve which would not only see the area preserved as a conservation property but also become a focus of international wildlife study, the arts and medical research.

Calling her fight Save Steve’s Place, Ms Irwin has begun an email campaign (sign the petition) to garner international support against mining plans.

The Federal Government bought the land for $6.3 million to be owned and managed by the Irwin family trust. But mining company Cape Alumina Pty Ltd has applied to remove more than 50 million tones of bauxite over 10 years from within 12,300ha of the reserve.

Ms Irwin said perched springs, a special type of underground water supply, had been discovered on the site.

"One wetland ecologist has spent his entire career searching for perched springs in the Cape and didn’t find any and we have found five so far (in the area) which has been earmarked for mining," she said.Both Cape Alumina and Australia Zoo have commissioned environmental impact studies.

Cape Alumina chief executive officer Paul Messenger said it was premature to take any action against his company’s mining proposals as its environmental study was not due for completion until next year.

"There’s been a lot of emotion in the last day or so,” he said. It’s too early, too premature to comment when the EIS is not even prepared yet."

By Glenis Green

Irwin's widow fights company over plans for wildlife reserve

A Key crocodile research area dedicated to the memory of Crocodile Hunter Steve Irwin is under threat from strip-mining.

The 135,000ha Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve on Queensland Cape York Peninsula was one of the last places visited by Irwin for his annual crocodile tagging expedition only weeks before he was fatally wounded by a stingray barb in September 2006.

It was bought for $6.3 million last year by the Federal Government to be owned and managed by the Irwin family trust. However, mining company Cape Alumina has lodged mining lease applications targeting more than 50 million tonnes of bauxite within 12,300ha of the reserve.

Terri Irwin, Australia Zoo principal and widow of the wildlife icon, said the reserve’s ecological value was irreplaceable and needed to be preserved in order to protect Australian habitat.

Ms Irwin said it was home to three important spring-fed wetlands that provided a critical water source to threatened, a permanent flow of water to the Wenlock river, and were home to rare and vulnerable plants and wildlife.

The proposed area for mining on the reserve contained the headwaters of irreplaceable waterways and unique bio-diversity which would not recover after mining was finished, she said.

The Wenlock River also supported a critical population of endangered spear-tooth sharks, sawfish, and the now-vulnerable estuarine crocodile.

“I am a realist and I understand that mining is an important industry,” she said.

“However, we have learned over the past 50 years of bauxite mining that it is critical to set aside the most environmentally sensitive areas such as Steve Irwin Wildlife Reserve and not consider mining them.

“Responsible mining companies are already doing this as part of developing carbon credit programs,”

Cape Alumina chief executive officer Paul Messenger said yesterday that he agreed areas of sensitivity needed to be preserved and there were no plans to mine any wetland, only dry bauxite, plateaus covered by common vegetation which would be consistently  rehabilitated.

He said his company has started a full environment impact study of the area last year, which would not be completed until next year, taking half of former Bertiehaugh  Pastoral Station within the reserve area, plus and adjoining section of Aboriginal land.

Mr Messenger said the company would be conducting extensive consultation and held the view that the project could benefit all stakeholders, especially the Aboriginal community.